Footscray Town Hall this year recorded a heritage milestone with the centenary of the commemoration of the WWI honour board, which retains pride of place at the top of the stairs leading into the reception room.

Made in 1921, with blackwood panels and rounded pillars, it records the names of 2000 soldiers from Yarraville and Footscray who served in the Great War, and was first unveiled on 29 September 1921 by the Victorian Governor George Rous, with the Countess of Stradbroke in attendance.

The huge polished honour board was relocated to the new Town Hall after it was built in 1936. The decision part of maintaining the continuity of the association from nineteenth to twentieth century buildings.

In 2015 Footscray Historical Society Secretary and former Mayor, Bill Horrocks, and a volunteer committee digitised nearly 1500 handwritten certificate of appreciation applications, matching them with the names on Footscray Town Hall’s honour board.

These stories are included in a guided journey through the grand entrance and erstwhile ballroom, meeting rooms and chambers and past the heritage horse trough on Hyde Street as part of the Open House Melbourne virtual tour.

Photo courtesy of Footscray Historical society